1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communications, and more specifically to methods and systems for signaling in wireless communication systems.
2. Background
Wireless telecommunication systems are widely deployed to provide various services, including but not limited to telephony, data, video, audio, messaging, and broadcasts. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include, but are not limited to, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) systems, TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) systems, FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) systems, and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) systems.
One type of wireless communication system is a P2P (peer-to-peer) networks, in which each node or workstation has equivalent capabilities and responsibilities. This differs from client/server architectures, in which some computers are dedicated to serving the others. Instead clients or servers, P2P networks have equal peer nodes that simultaneously function as both “clients” and “servers” to the other nodes on the network. In the context of a wireless communication system, this may be viewed as a system where a base station (defined below) or an access point (defined below) is not required for two devices to communicate with each other. They can communicate either directly with each other or through other devices. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a common air interface design that can be used both in the “infrastructure” mode and the “peer-to-peer” mode is used as the context. As further explained below, an infrastructure mode includes an access router and access terminal architecture. As also further explained below, a peer-to-peer mode is also referred to as an adhoc mode.
In wireless communication systems, a base station or access router may transmit data to one or more terminals on the forward link and/or receive data from one or more terminals on the reverse link, at any given moment. The base station or access router may send signaling to indicate which terminals are scheduled for data transmission and to convey information pertinent to the reception of the data transmission.
There is a need for techniques to efficiently and reliably send and schedule messages in a wireless communication systems, including but not limited to P2P networks.